An Unexpected Ally
by Brock's Geodude
Summary: Darien hosts an exchange student from the States. Who is he? This is a crossover fic, so read and find out! Review while you're at it. (Part 2 FINALLY UP!)
1. Introductions

An Unexpected Ally  
  
A/N and Disclaimer: This is my first long Sailor Moon fic. I'm going to try to keep everyone pretty close to in-character, possibly with a few little twists, you never know. I have no financial ties to the Sailor Moon franchise or to that of the mystery character who will show up, blah blah blah. This has no real place in the Sailor Moon timeline. However, the Scouts use their first-season uniforms and (mostly) their first-season attacks. Darien knows the Scouts' secret identities, and vice versa, and Serena and Darien are dating. Also, I don't know if Andrew has a last name in the dub (or even in the original) so I have chosen one for him.  
  
Walking out of his last college class of that Friday, eighteen-year-old Darien Shields adjusted the shoulder strap on his backpack and headed for his locker. He had just finished a tough mid-term in one of his medical courses, and all he wanted to do now was head back to his apartment and relax in front of the TV. Threading his way through the crowd of other students, he spotted a poster on one wall and went over for a better look. According to the poster, the college would soon be getting an influx of foreign exchange students. Some would stay for long courses, others for 2-week seminars. The college dorms were pretty close to full, so they were looking for people to host the exchange students. At first, Darien wasn't interested, but then he noticed the incentive near the bottom of the poster. The college would pay for all related expenses of hosting the exchange student, plus give each host 8,000 yen (A/N: about $73.50 US or $97 Canadian) a month for their trouble.   
  
Darien considered this for a moment. Hosting a foreign exchange student would make it a little more difficult for him to come and go as his alter ego, Tuxedo Mask, but with the extra money, he could really do something special for Serena. Darien paused for a moment, thinking about her. The few months that had passed since he found out that she was really Sailor Moon, and she discovered that he was Tuxedo Mask, had seemed at the same time to be a few days and like an eternity. That was because he enjoyed her presence so much on their dates, that it seemed like they'd been with each other forever, yet time flew when they were having fun together. But in a sense, they sort of HAD been with each other forever...for over a thousand years anyway, because of their previous lives in the Moon Kingdom. After a bit of consideration, Darien considered the problem of keeping his identity secret from a potential roommate to be worth the trouble, if it meant some extra money to take Serena on a really special date.  
  
Coming to the end of the hallway, he normally took a left to get to his locker, but this time he went right, to get to the Student Services Office. He signed up for the hosting program without incident. The students, said the receptionist, would be arriving at the airport on the Saturday after next. The interesting part, to Darien, was that only the arriving students would be told who their hosts were, so the students would be a little more comfortable with the whole thing. The hosts would not be told about the students. This prevented anyone from developing prejudices or negative first impressions, and it was the college's way of "broadening students' horizons." Darien didn't much care for that vague double-talk, but it didn't matter. He was only in this for the money (and ultimately, for Serena), not to have his 'horizons broadened' or to make new friends. However, the more he thought about the possibilities of what he could do with the money to surprise Serena, the more he liked the idea.  
  
***  
  
"I'm surprised you signed up for that program, since you usually prefer to keep to yourself," said Darien's best friend, blond-haired Andrew Taylor. Darien was sitting at the counter of the combination soda shop/arcade that Andrew managed, sipping a milkshake. Darien and the Sailor Scouts used the arcade as a hangout, and sometimes, a meeting place. Ironically though, Andrew had no idea who Darien, Serena, Amy, Raye, Lita, and Mina really were.  
  
Darien lowered his voice. "Listen, just between you and me..." he explained to Andrew about the money he would be getting from the deal, and how he planned to use it.  
  
Andrew nodded and smiled knowingly. "Ah, so I guess it'll be worth it after all."  
  
Darien took another sip of his milkshake. "That's what I'm hoping for."  
  
The door opened behind Darien, and he heard a group of lively, laughing, talking girls enter the arcade. Recognizing their voices, he turned around from his seat on the stool and greeted them, receiving a quick hug from Serena.  
  
Lita suddenly brightened. "Hey guys, with Darien we have an even group of six for the tournament!"  
  
"We're doing kind of a mini-tournament today on the new Sailor V game," Serena explained, nodding towards one of the arcade cabinets. "Wanna join?"  
  
Finishing off the last of his milkshake, Darien said, "Sure, why not?"  
  
***  
  
Two weeks later (and after much good-natured teasing from Serena over getting the lowest score in the Sailor V tournament), Darien and Serena joined others from Darien's college at the airport, waiting for the arriving exchange students. Several college workers waited at the gates. The arrangement was that the exchange students would show some ID to the college workers, who would in turn find their hosts and introduce them.  
  
It wasn't long before a middle-aged woman that Darien had seen before at his college approached. With her was a young man who looked in his early twenties. He was about Darien's height, with sandy brown hair and a lean but muscular build. He carried a camera bag around his neck and a suitcase in each hand. He wore a green t-shirt and blue jeans.  
  
"And here's your host, his name is Darien." said the college worker. "I'll leave you two to get acquainted." She then left to find the next student and host.  
  
"Hi, I'm Darien Shields," said Darien, extending his hand.  
  
"And I'm Serena Tsukino," said Serena.  
  
The young man put down his suitcases and shook hands with both of them. "Nice to meet you guys. I'm Peter Parker." 


	2. A Call for Help

-part 2-  
  
A/N: -Professor Yamamoto is an original creation of mine. Everyone else is from the Sailor Moon or Spider-Man universes. And I forgot to address the language barrier issue in part 1, since they're in Japan, but this is based on the dub, so just ignore it. Sorry about that. Just assume that Darien and the Scouts can all speak English, but random people may or may not be able to. Also, not really for this part but for later, I read somewhere that Tuxedo Mask has a few abilities in the manga that he doesn't in the anime, and I have a bit of my own take on him, but I'm still going to try to keep everyone in-character. Sorry about the descriptions in this part, I'm not that good at describing clothes.  
  
"So, Peter, what made you decide to come here as an exchange student?" asked Serena, always eager to make new friends. Darien had hailed a taxi, and the trio were now on their way to his apartment. Serena turned around from her seat in front in order to speak directly to the newcomer. Serena had an enthusiastic, cheerful personality. A small knot of hair stuck out on each side of her head, and from them extended two waist-length braids of golden-blonde locks. Until recently, Serena had only known that this was her favorite hairstyle, but wasn't sure why. But upon learning of her past life in the Moon Kingdom, she realized that Princess Serena, her new alternate transformation, had worn her hair in this way as well back then. Among her peers though, the hairstyle had always been unique. Before they had found out each other's secret identities, when Serena still considered Darien a major annoyance with zero personality, he had coined the nickname "Meatball Head," since he said that the knots of hair looked like meatballs, and the rest of her hair like spaghetti. Serena used to hate the name, but now that the two were dating, it had become sort of his pet name for her.  
  
In answer to her question, Peter explained, "Well, I'm taking courses at Empire State University in New York, majoring in biochemistry. When I heard that Professor Yamamoto was an instructor there, I signed up for the exchange program immediately."  
  
"Who's Professor Yamamoto?" asked Serena.  
  
"Takeshi Yamamoto is one of the world's leading experts in the field of biochemistry," Darien supplied. "It isn't my major, but I've met the man, and he's a genius. He's written several books on the subject and has been at the forefront of many important studies. I can understand Peter's desire to learn from him."  
  
Peter nodded. "Thanks, yeah, that's pretty much the reason I'm here. The course he's offering lasts a month. I'm just glad I won the essay contest that had coming here as its prize, otherwise I'd never have been able to afford it."  
  
Just then, the taxi pulled up in front of Darien's apartment building. After Darien paid the driver, the three friends got out and took Peter's luggage up to Darien's third-floor apartment via the elevator. Darien showed Peter to his spare bedroom, and Peter laid his two small suitcases and camera bag down on the bed. He was about to unpack one of the suitcases when Darien said, "Hey, before you do that, you feel like heading over to the arcade with us? Or would you rather work off that jet lag?"  
  
Peter didn't mention that as Spider-Man, it took a lot more than a few hours of jet lag to tire him. Instead he said, "OK, sounds good to me. I haven't been to an arcade since the last new Sailor V game came out."  
  
Serena was shocked. "You play Sailor V?" she demanded, eyes boring directly into Peter's.  
  
Peter shrugged. "Sure, my girlfriend Mary Jane back home loves the game. She kept twisting my arm until I finally agreed to play it with her...then I ended up beating her best score on my second try." Surprised at himself, Peter wondered why he had said that, since he was normally quick-witted, but modest about any accomplishments he had achieved. However, something about Serena's energy and obvious love of life made him feel at ease around both her and Darien, so he chalked that up to a slip of the tongue. Serena certainly was a pretty girl for her age, Peter thought to himself, but he meant it only as a compliment. He wasn't the kind of guy who would try to take another's girlfriend, besides, an eight-year age difference was too much for him. He also had a girlfriend of his own back home in New York, Mary Jane Watson.  
  
"OK, we have GOT to play together. I'm pretty good at it if I do say so myself, and I wanna challenge you!" With that, Serena grabbed Peter's arm and rushed for the door.  
  
"Is she always like this?" Peter asked dryly as he allowed himself to be pulled along.  
  
"You'll get used to it," said Darien, smiling and following them. He didn't mention it, but he was having an odd feeling about Peter. He wasn't sure if it was due to his telepathic abilities as Tuxedo Mask, or if it was just a gut feeling, but something told him there was more to this Peter Parker than met the eye.  
  
As it turned out, Peter was actually better at the game than he said he was. After he nearly doubled Serena's all-time best score of 45,680, Serena became convinced that the arcade machines had something against her. It wasn't long before four other girls, very familiar to both Serena and Darien, came in and joined them at the machines. Serena introduced them to Peter as her friends Amy, Raye, Lita, and Mina. All four of the girls, as well as Serena, were wearing the female-sailor-suit-like uniforms that were mandatory at their schools. All the uniforms were mainly white, with a secondary dark blue coloring on the trim and skirt. Darien also introduced Peter to Andrew, who came over to talk for a few minutes before returning to the counter.  
  
Amy Anderson was the studious one of Serena's group of friends. A consistent straight-A student with a very high IQ, Amy was rarely seen without some type of homework in her possession. Still, after Serena had taken the initiative to befriend her, she had opened up significantly and really enjoyed belonging to a group of real friends for the first time in her life. Her aqua-blue skirt matched her short blue hair perfectly.  
  
Having been kicked out of her previous school for fighting, Lita Jackson may not have even joined this group of friends had it not been for Serena's caring nature and tendency to look for the good in others. Indeed, skills both in street fighting and cooking were an unusual combination, for the brunette was both physically the strongest and domestically the most skilled of the group. Lita was the one exception to the rule for her school uniform, in that the school did not yet have one to fit her, so hers was a slightly different version. It was trimmed with forest green, with a skirt to match. Like the others, she wasn't lacking in the looks department either. The tallest of the group, she looked older than her fourteen years, and often received approving glances from college-age males. Her boy- craziness rivalled Serena's in severity, but unlike Serena, she did not currently have a steady boyfriend.  
  
The other blonde of the group, aside from Serena, was Mina Blossom. Sporting a distinctive large red bow on the back of her head that had become her trademark, Peter had to admit to himself that, for her age, Mina was very beautiful. Her straight blonde hair was almost as long as Serena's, and it swung around her shoulders whenever she talked. An cheerful girl who seemingly loved life, Lita and Serena brought a enthusiastic, positive attitude to the group. Like Serena's, Mina's uniform had deep blue trim with a blue skirt.  
  
The fourth member of the group was Raye Hino. A raven-haired Shinto priestess, Rei was the spiritual one of the group, but also had the hottest temper, a temper that was often directed at Serena for her frequent clumsiness and ineptitude. None of her outbursts were ever intentionally harmful, however, for deep down, Rei considered Serena a good friend, but would not bring herself to admit it. Rei lived at the local Shinto temple with her grandfather and an ex-rock musician named Chad Burns who worked there.  
  
After playing games at the arcade for a while and enjoying some ice cream, Serena left with her friends for Raye's temple. It was late afternoon, so Peter and Darien returned to Darien's apartment, where Darien began to prepare some hot dogs and fries for supper. It wasn't long before they were ready, and the two young men sat down in the living room to watch TV as they ate. Peter was just starting on his second hot dog when a he felt a familiar tingling sensation in his head. 'Spider-sense...' he thought, glancing around. 'What's going on?' Not finding anything unusual, his eyes finally fell upon Darien, seated at the other end of the sofa. His host had dropped his plate in his lap, and was holding his fingers to his temples. "Um, is everything OK, Darien?" Peter asked.  
  
Here was Darien's first real test of his ability to conceal his secret identity, but he wasn't thinking about that now. Rather, he was concentrating on the mental message he had just received from Serena. 'Tuxedo Mask, we need your help!' she had said in his mind. 'These are the biggest Negaverse monsters we've ever seen! Aaack, no, Sailor Mercury just went down! Please hurry, Tuxedo Mask!' To Peter, Darien said, "I'm sorry, I just remembered...um, an important appointment. I gotta go. Keep watching TV if you want, and there's more stuff in the fridge." He had already put down his plate and was rushing for the door. As he dashed out the door and into the hallway, Peter was barely able to hear Darien whisper to himself, "I'm coming, Sailor Moon."  
  
'OK, what was that all about?' Peter wondered. Replaying the scene in his mind, he realized that his Spider-sense must have been activated for the same reason Darien had just left. Remembering the way Darien had been holding his temples, it suddenly clicked. Having dealt with the X-Men before as Spider-Man, Peter remembered their founder, Professor Charles Xavier, had touched one or both of his temples in that way before when using his powerful telepathic abilities. It all made sense now—Darien had received some kind of mental message from someone in danger. Somehow Peter's Spider-sense had picked up on it, so he knew what he had to do. Already wearing his Spider-Man costume under his clothes out of habit, Peter quickly changed into his alter ego and shoved his regular clothes under the sofa so as not to arouse Darien's suspicions.  
  
Having now become Spider-Man, he ran to the window, threw it open, and climbed up so he was crouching on the windowsill. He looked down and noticed Darien running eastward, towards the commercial area of town. Raising his right wrist, Spider-Man aimed it diagonally across the street to the side of another apartment building, and pressed on his now-gloved palm with his second and third fingers. A thin but strong strand of webbing shot out of his wrist. The end of the webbing attached itself to the building, and Spider-Man pushed off with both feet. The whole process, from changing to shooting the first web, had taken less than thirty seconds, and Spider-Man was now airborne, web-swinging down the street in pursuit of the teenage medical student. Spider-Man had only taken a couple of swings though, when he saw something startling, that made him stop and land on the side of one building in order to watch. Below, Darien had quickly ducked into an alley, glanced around to make sure nobody was watching, and taken out a red rose from the inside pocket of his light jacket. Unknown to Darien, though, he was in fact being watched, from above and across the street. Spider-Man was startled, but hardly surprised at what he was seeing. He had worked with many other superheroes in the past, but it was a rare occurrence to learn the secret identity of one of them. He watched now as Darien lifted the rose above his head. A slow, swirling tornado of red and black cloth and rose petals later, Darien had now become his own alter- ego. His costume looked more like something you might see at some kind of old-fashioned royal ball or something, however. In fact, if he attended something like that, he'd blend right in. He wore a black tuxedo and top hat, and his face was hidden behind a white pointed eye-mask. Spider-Man watched as the tuxedo-clad teen below him continued running in the same direction as he had been before the transformation, only he seemed faster on his feet now. With no idea what to expect, Spider-Man allowed him several seconds' lead before swinging off after him. 


End file.
